If it feels like driving I-45 through North Houston is a high-stakes gamble, the data backs you up. A national review of two decades of crash records has crowned a 10-mile slice of the freeway as the deadliest stretch in the country.
The segment of Interstate 45 between exits 49B and 60A logged roughly 142 fatal crashes and 148 deaths over the study period. Those numbers land on top of an already grim reputation for a corridor that mixes constant congestion with major, long-running construction.
The ranking comes from a 2023 analysis by personal-injury firm Elk & Elk and data partner 1Point21 Interactive, which examined National Highway Traffic Safety Administration records from 2000-2019. According to that report, the Houston segment averaged 7.7 fatal crashes a year and had a worst year that saw 15 people killed. Elk & Elk also found that seven of the ten deadliest 10-mile stretches in the country were in Texas, with Dallas claiming five of those spots…